I keep trying to lose weight...
but it keeps finding me!
~Author Unknown
So last Saturday I had a great post planned where I would share with you the results of my hydrostatic body fat testing. A local crossfit had a mobile unit coming out and a good friend of my mine signed us up, I was looking forward to the 01-05-13 date for a couple weeks. We went and the parking lot was empty. My first thought was we were at the wrong place, her first thought, we were scammed LOL Actually, a pipe had burst late the night before and we didn't get notification. Our make up session was Friday 01-11-13 and I couldn't be more elated with the results.
The Beginning
In fall/winter of 2011 I started to gain a few pounds... like 5. Not a big deal. I probably over reacted and started watching what I ate along with picking up my running again. Suddenly my 5 was 10 and I couldn't get the scale to budge! Next steps: primary care, off the 1 medication I was taking, then referral to an endocrinologist in May 2012 and nothing. Blood work, fine. My eating, was healthy including a 6 week stint of mostly plant based diet and zero fried foods. I was eating 1200 calories and exercising. When that didn't work, I gave up, ate what I wanted and initially lost a few pounds so I started watching what I ate again and gained another 5lbs. Dang it! So I stopped exercising and didn't watch what I ate.
The Middle
I went to an RD in the late summer time and she informed me that I was way under eating and used a simple method of my body weight divided by 2.2 to find my weight in kilos and multiplied that by 20 to find my target calories for weightloss. I was also informed that it was unnecessary, unless training super hard, to replace my calories for regular workouts. I could just structure my meals so that I ate near enough my workouts or had snacks around then to stave off hunger. It worked for a few weeks, I lost 3 pounds and my goal conservatively was about 1 lb. a week. Then the weight started to come back on and I was too frustrated to play. So we are approaching the 1-year mark and I decided to workout again. I am going on almost a month of working out and eating 1700 calories. The first few days I lost 1-3 lbs. and then I was back up another 5 or more. I even got to a point where I worked out 12 out of 15 consecutive days. I have been doing lots of strength training and have been doing more and more cardio over the last two weeks. In a year I have put on 15 pounds!
The Present
Am I losing weight? No. Does weight loss take longer than a month? Yes. I get it, but I feel hungry all the time, am watching what I eat and exercising, I should be seeing something. So fast forward to Friday. My body fat testing didn't yield shocking results. I had had quality caliper testing done in the late summer-fall and the results are fairly close. I am 24.3% fat. I need to lose 5.8 lbs to lower that percentage to 22% and any muscle gain changes the results dramatically. The ultimate goal is 20% or less. What was shocking news was to have my fat and lean body mass factored in to my RMR. When I run my RMR online based on height, weight, age and activity level it is usually in the high 1500's almost 1600. So I was worried a little with 1700 being higher than that, but the RD knows better than a computer generated generic number. With more information, comes a stronger answer. My new, old, whatever, my current RMR result is 1958 calories. Yes, to lay in bed all day and breathe is 1958. If I roll out of bed and walk to the bathroom, I am already creating a calorie deficit! Should I be replacing my workout calories? YES! So at 1700 calories I was already 258 under plus whatever I burned walking around doing my regular routine, let alone exercising. My body for a year has been in a perpetual state of starvation.
The Reason Why and What's Next
So why did this all happen late fall 2011? I stopped running. I took time off gained weight and when I went back to it, over compensated by restricting my calories. I can run and pretty much eat whatever I want. All I had to do was one or the other, but both was too much on my body, apparently. So I will be slowly upping my caloric intake 2-3 days at a time so my body doesn't hold on to everything thinking I will go back into a period of starvation. I am at 1800 and am eating more of my workout calories. On Wednesday I'll go to 1850, next Sunday 1900 and by 01-23-13 I'll be at 1958 and hopefully be consuming closer to all my workout calories. I know it'll take time for my body to adjust so I am hoping by the end of February I start to see a reduction. Once I stabilize, I'll start a normal weigh loss program, if necessary. You know, the 500 calorie a day deficit blah, blah, blah.
Why I Kick A$$: Because after only 2 days of upping my calories the scale ballooned 5lbs and it didn't bother me. I'll keep weighing in because at some point the numbers will be validating again, I just have to be patient in the mean time.
Thankful Three:
- For date night with my girlfriend
- For date night with Super Hubby
- For a wonderful dinner
No comments:
Post a Comment